How Hybrid Organizations Adopt Circular Economy Models to Foster Sustainable Development

Maria Cristina Zaccone, Cristina Santhià and Martina Bosone
Additional contact information
Maria Cristina Zaccone: ALTIS Alta Scuola Impresa e Società, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy
Cristina Santhià: Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica “Cognetti de Martiis”, Università degli Studi di Torino, 10153 Torino, Italy
Martina Bosone: Research Institute on Innovation and Services for Development, National Research Council (CNR-IRISS), 80134 Naples, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: Relying on the hybrid organization literature and the circular economy literature, our study aims at theorizing how hybrid organizations adopt circular economy business models to contribute to sustainable development. Through six in-depth interviews with social entrepreneurs located in different regions of Italy and operating in different industries, we theorize that four aspects are unique to hybrid organizing that adopt a circular economy business model. We find that hybrid organizations foster sustainable development thanks to their ability to develop and maintain relationships with the surrounding organizational realities. Additionally, we find that hybrid organizations contribute to sustainable development thanks to their motivation to guard and watch over the natural environment and human beings. In addition, we find that hybrid organizations foster sustainability by educating, spreading knowledge, and ennobling the human spirit. We therefore present a conceptual model that shows how hybrid organizations that adopt circular economy models contribute to sustainable development. In sum, our findings expand on previous literature, add new knowledge, and integrate fields of research that usually develop in silos.

Keywords: hybrid organizations; social entrepreneurs; circular economy; circular business model; sustainable development; environmental sustainability; social sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2679/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2679/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:5:p:2679-:d:758306

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().